More To Life
by FuckMePumps
Summary: It was a normal day, normal robbery, normal crimefighting. But what happens when the Titans forget that their leader is also just normal? RobRae RobStar Oneshot


**Author's Note:** Hahaha! Prepare to be sad again! Yes, yet another tragic-death fic… and guess what? It's a one-shot!

**Disclaimer:** Me no no own 'em. Ha.

-

_**There's gotta be more to life  
Than chasing down every temporary high  
To satisfy me.  
Coz the more that I'm  
Trippin' out thinking there must be more to life.  
Well it's life, but I'm sure.  
There's gotta be more...  
Than wanting more.**_

I've got the time and I'm wasting it slowly  
Here in this moment, I'm halfway out the door.  
On to the next thing, I'm searching  
for something that's missing

_**-Stacie Orrico.**_

_-  
_

It was a normal day for the Titans. A typical robbery, and the hold-uppers weren't even to be considered supervillains.

"Titans, go!"

The teens attacked at their leader's command. Beastboy morphed into a T-rex and chased some of the thieves to a dead end, and when there bound them hand and foot.

Raven lifted some of them in the air with her dark energy, trapping them there.

Starfire blasted some with her starbolts, knocking them unconscious.

Cyborg wrestled with the three remaining ones, and effortlessly defeated them.

"Give up, or I'll have to make you." Robin told the leader tauntingly.

"Save it, Bird Boy." The ski-masked villain brought out a gun. Robin wasn't the least bit frightened. And maybe, that became his biggest mistake, making every thing he did wrong in the past years seem like minor errors. It might be the last mistake he'll ever make.

He rushed forward, ready to tackle the assailant, when _BANG!_

All the others looked up from what they were doing. The glanced at each other. Who was missing? Robin, their leader. The bravest one, the one who always stood strong… the one who was fully human. The one who would have been fully affected by a bullet.

Time seemed to slow down as masked eyes widened as he saw the fatal bullet spiral towards him. He told his body to dodge it, to get out of the way, to _move, _but the impact of dying froze his body, paralyzed him.

"_No!" _He cried out, just as it pierced his chest.

He dropped to the ground with a loud 'thud.'

His team mates hurriedly secured all the robbers in their hold and went to the sound of the gunshot.

Their eyes found their fallen friend lying in a pool of blood, and there were different reactions.

Starfire was too scared to come close, at fear of what she might find out. She shook in her shoes, too shaken to be sad and too sad to be shaken.

Raven followed her instincts and was at her leader's side, turning him over and checking for a pulse.

"Raven?" He said weakly. "I'm not fine, aren't I?"

She was faced with a hard decision. _'Just say yes, it will make things much easier.'_

"No, Robin. No, you're not."

Cyborg looked at them, anger burning inside him. He approached the robber, who was by now cowering in terror.

"You're going to pay for that." He said darkly, raising his sonic cannon

"No, Cyborg. First things first. Arrest him, and call an ambulance!" Raven told him, voice quivering.

Cyborg hesitated, then gave the assailant a quick punch, and tied him up with pieces of metal. He gently shoved Raven aside, taking Robin in his robot arms.

"No, the T-car. It'll be faster." He replied. "B, Star, come on!"

Beastboy, who just stood there, frozen in place, put an arm around the Tamaranian and led her to the car.

"Starfire, sit in front. You won't like what'll be in the back." Raven ordered, emotions fighting to take control.

Starfire wordlessly sat in the passenger seat, while raven and Beastboy piled up in the back, with Robin lying across the seat. Raven had his head on her lap, while his legs were stretched out on Beastboy's.

"Everybody there?" Cyborg tried t o stay calm. Robin always said _'in dire situations, the worse you can do is to panic.' _Too bad he wasn't in the right shape to tell them that now.

The metal man didn't wait for a reply, he was just busying himself to not think about what was behind him.

He activated the ambulance alarm so that cars would make way.

"I called the cops to round up the robbers," He said, gritting his teeth at the thought of the one who pulled the trigger.

The alarm rang loud and what little traffic was there was bearable, but the ride to the hospital was long and slow.

Starfire got over her surprise and was now weeping silently. Raven fought back tears too, as she gently caressed his hair, whispering comfort, even though it would do little good.. She used her healing powers to slow down the bleeding, but she could do nothing else.

Beastboy tried not to look at the wound on his leader's chest, but it was magnetic. He bit his lip, unsure of what to think or feel. This had never, ever happened before. It was supposed to be a normal day, a normal robbery, and the normal pizza to celebrate. What had gone wrong?

-

"Cy!" Beastboy called out upon seeing his friend from the hallway, ignoring signs to keep quiet. "How is he? What's up?"

Cyborg's face was grim. "Critical. They just finished the operation. He's still unconscious."

It had been four hours since they arrived and rushed him to the emergency room. Everyone knew instantly that the damage was far worse than the bullet itself. He had lost a huge amount of blood, the evidence being the red that stained the T-car's seat and the ones on Raven and Beastboy's clothes.

"Can we see him now?" Raven said in her monotone. She had been meditating hastily since they arrived, to keep her bursting emotions under control.

Cyborg nodded. "Where's Star?"

"Cried herself to sleep. In a room right now."

"Okay. Let's go."

Walking down the seemingly endless corridors gave them small hope. Hospitals have that effect on people, being the place where countless lay sick on a bed, where people spent their last days. The aura of depression and death was strong, and combined with that of heartbreak and despair, it was unbearable.

"Here it is. Room 207." Cyborg opened the door quickly.

Robin…

…looked nothing like Robin. His usually perfect spiked hair was mussed, and there were machines connected to him everywhere. There was even one that helped him breathe, and they vaguely wondered what would have happened if they didn't get there in time…

His face was maskless, which slightly surprised them. His brow was slightly furrowed into a frown, like he was dreaming of being tortured, and even they felt unease at his obvious discomfort. There was so little color in his face he looked entirely monochromatic, a picture shot in black and white film.

Was the same Robin who had whined along the rest of them about Beastboy's tofu? Who had made them train for hours non-stop after a tiring battle because they failed to apprehend the villain in time? Who had smiled gently at a six year old crippled girl who had asked for his autograph? The Robin who encouraged them endlessly, who would have rather died a hundred times than to see them suffer, the Robin who recruited them, a group of outcasts and misfits? The Robin who fought for them, and the city…

But now he was fighting for his life, and at the same time let them see a new side of himself. He was there for them when they needed him, but now it was he who needed them…

A nurse stood over him, a clipboard in her hand, and she smiled at them kindly.

"He's fine now." She said, maintaining the beam on her face.

Of course they could see the hypocrisy of her smile, the falseness of those words, the lie in her tones. If only they were true… unfortunately, it wasn't really that easy.

The titian-haired nurse put a hand on Raven's shoulder. She stiffened.

"Don't take too long, dears. He needs to rest." She left without another word.

"He looks different." Beastboy murmured, point-blank.

There was a frosty silence between them, only disturbed by the occasional beep of the heart monitor.

Raven apparently couldn't take it any longer. "I… I'm going out for some air."

"I'll come with you." Beastboy agreed.

Cyborg looked at them questioningly.

"We'll take turns. I have a premonition that something might happen…"

A few footsteps and the closing of the door. Now he was alone.

Cyborgh turned towards his best friend. It seemed unreal seeing him like this. Weak, defenseless, and shut out from the world.

It was their fault. They should have seen this coming.

They had forgotten that Robin was just a human. They should have been there… he should have been there to help.

And now they were all paying the price.

The half-robot had never felt so obsolete.

Tears streamed from his human eye. He knew full well what he could have done. How he could have been there. If only…

One look at the blank, expressionless face… there were so many things that he wanted to say, to somehow let him be forgiven, so many promises…

But his lips only formed two words.

"_I'm sorry."_

-

Cyborg exited the room the same way he came in. Serious and gloomy. He sat down wordlessly in the waiting lounge. Beastboy and Raven looked at each other. The former shrugged.

He didn't exactly know what he was going to do. But he was going to make it good.

He didn't look at Robin as he slowly took out a chair. He sighed, his breathing synchronizing with Robin's.

They didn't see it coming… of all things, no one expected that their fearless leader was to be… taken down by a mere thief, bearing a simple handgun.

There was so much they had planned for that day…

The two had never been close, but everyone could see that they both had immense respect for each other. Now Beastboy wished that he had tried to get to know Robin better… they could have been friends… best friends… he only wished it wasn't too late.

He casually glanced at the heart monitor, knowing that any second the line on that machine can go flat…

He scolded himself for thinking that.

Robin couldn't leave them… they would fall apart without him…

He touched his leader on the shoulder.

"Don't…" He paused, unsure of what to say next.

"Leave us." He said as firmly as he could, as if Robin could hear him. He would have liked that…

He stood up and went to the door. As his hand turned the knob, he looked back.

"_We need you."_ He murmured under his breath, as a single drop of hot salty water made it down his cheek.

-

"Robin!" Starfire screamed as she woke. She was in a strange white room, lying on a stiff white bed. A nurse burst in.

"Yes, dear? Are you alright?"

She shook her head fiercely as she continued to cry. She would never run out of tears until Robin woke up…

"Robin? Where is Robin?"

The nurse's eyes lit with understanding. "He's… _resting. _Two doors to the left." She said gently.

Starfire couldn't have gone out the door faster than she did.

Outside the room were Cyborg, Beastboy and Raven, restless on the waiting chairs. Cyborg had his head in his hands, Raven even pretended not to notice her as she shut her eyes tightly. Beastboy only nodded.

She turned to the door, breathing deeply. Her hand gripped the doorknob, uncertain if she should turn it…

There had been so much blood…

She opened the door, falling to pieces upon seeing him.

She ran to the side of his bed and _tried _to hug him without disturbing any of the machines that were attached to him. She stayed like that for a couple of minutes, then collapsed on the chair beside him.

He looked so pale, so weak… it took him a while to recognize him without the mask, but it was Robin alright.

Why was Raven the one who held him as he lay in the back of the T-car, bleeding, while she sat on the front staring helplessly into space?

It was her fault, she concluded. If she had been there more, to help, to reassure… they wouldn't be in this mess, and Robin couldn't have been dying on this hospital bed.

He had to stay with them… he just had to…

Heaven knows what would happen to her if he dies…

Her sobs got softer, but inside, her heart was breaking into a million pieces, and only Robin's hopeful recovery can ever fix that up…

Her voice resembled that of a violin's last note as she finally cracked.

"I should have been there, Robin, I'm sorry.

"_I cared for you."_

-

A nurse went in Robin's room and came out minutes later with Starfire, looking messed up and depressed in a way they had never seen her before.

"You should go home. We'll take care of him here." The nurse said soothingly.

They considered it for a moment, and Cyborg nodded.

Beastboy started to follow, looking back at Raven.

"Let's go, Rae. I'm sure he'll be alright." Even he knew it was a lie.

"No!"

Her cry rang out in the hallway, stunning everyone. Even she was surprised at how she said it.

"I'm staying here. You guys go."

Starfire obviously wanted to stay too, but the two boys persuaded her to do otherwise. There was little chance of doing the same with Raven.

After the others left, the nurse put an arm around Raven as they entered Robin's room. As she sat down, the nurse draped a blanket over her shoulders. She caught her glance questioningly.

"You'll clearly be here for awhile." Was all the nurse said, smiling sadly as she left.

Raven stared at Robin, her eyes never leaving him as if she would get all the answers to the endless questions in one look.

It was calming to just see him, to hear his breathing, yet at the same time her heart thumped wildly in her chest as if it wanted to get out.

"You're the only person that can make my heart beat faster and slower at the same time," she whispered quietly, almost to herself. That one statement was the simplest way to say all the thoughts and emotions that surged through her.

In an act of bravado, she grabbed his hand and squeezed it hard. To her surprise and utter shock he did the same.

"Robin? Are you awake?"

He tilted his head to face her as he smirked slightly. "Yeah." He managed, his voice hoarse and raspy.

"You had us worried for awhile there." She said sharply, but with a trace of relief.

Robin scrunched his forehead as he clutched at his heart, wincing painfully. "God, it hurts." She could see it took effort for him to speak, and wondered why he bothered at all.

Raven's eyes misted over, placing a hand on his chest and making it glow bright with blue energy. The pain flared for a moment, then vanished entirely.

"I couldn't heal you completely, but I took away the pain." She said, stroking his cheek and his hair in a comforting gesture.

Robin smiled gratefully, but his face was sad.

"I'm going to die." There was no regret in his hoarse voice, as if the thought of dying wasn't deterring at all, like Raven hadn't only taken the pain, but any fear he might have had then.

"Robin, don't…" She began to object.

"Don't even try to deny it. I know you already know."

"But…"

"I can feel it too. I'm fading away." A cough followed.

"Don't say that!" She snapped, angry all of a sudden. Her tone was firm, but tears flowed from her eyes.

'_Don't cry! Your powers will destroy everything!' _said her subconscious.

'_Hush! Let her be… this moment is bad enough to be worsened by your complaints… she only has now…' _replied her conscience.

He opened his eyes, revealing beautiful honey-colored orbs. "Don't cry." He said.

"Just don't." He continued, with a voice barely above a whisper's.

Even though he had started to cry himself.

"I don't want to die yet. I don't. But I can't do anything."

"There's so much to do. So much… I don't want to leave you guys." His voice was soft and barely audible.

He locked eyes with hers, hazel meeting purple. "Tell them… tell them that I'm sorry…"

He lifted his other hand to clasp hers. "Don't forget me…"

"No, Robin, don't…"

"Remember me as I was. _I'll miss you_."

His eyes closed peacefully as his hands went limp in hers. For a moment she was shocked… no, it couldn't be true…

But she felt him leave, his absence overwhelming, leaving her sobs stuck in her throat.

Something tugged at her heart strings as his soul left her empty and broken.

"_I'll miss you too."_

The constant beep of the heart monitor was replaced by a long, steady and eerie sound. Now he truly was gone, spirit, soul and body. Too miserable for the brain to process…

One minute there, gone the next…

What had gone wrong?

It had all been happening so quickly, all the thoughts, all the feelings… then Raven realized that she couldn't breathe.

**Author's Note:** It's entirely up to you what happened to Raven, because this is strictly a one-shot and I 'm not gonna continue it! And even if I was, it would describe Robin's funeral in full detail, and it wouldn't have a plot at all, so it'll be boring… hope I got the emotions correct there… I know the Starfire part was a little scratchy, but I didn't want a scene involving the three little words… I made the actions act them out… hope I'm not repeating myself too much with the death fics, but it's in my nature, I cannot help it… If you think it's RobStar or RobRae, whatever… it's not really a romance, more of a focus at the reactions of the Titans if one was faced with a life-death situation… guilt, anger, remorse, whatever… Oh, and I got the idea of Raven only taking away the pain from The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer… I love Stefan Bashkir! Oh yeah, Dusty or any other Arty Fowl fans out there, I just finished the fourth book! Weeeeeeeeeeeeee……… okay, enough of my ramblings, but you better go and

REVIEW!

PS flames about the writing are welcome, cause I know this wasn't my best work, kinda fast-paced and hollow, but if you flame a pairing, especially RobRae 1) you must be stupid cause there aren't really specific pairings here, and 2) you must die. Thank you and have a nice day. Btw…

REVIEW!

'_You're the only person that can make my heart beat faster and slower at the same time.'_


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